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A video interview with the late Charles Forgus, a deputy sheriff of Big Springs in Howard County, Texas, emerged in June, in which he said he and his senior saw the crash site of the alleged Roswell UFO in July 1947.

Mr Forgus described in detail to a private investigator how he saw a crashed flying saucer and dead aliens being removed from it before the pair were told to leave the scene.

The account filmed in 1999 was released in the book UFOs TODAY, 70 Years of Lies, Misinformation and Government Cover-Up by Dr Irena Scott in June.

British UFO investigator Philip Mantle, who published it, says he was criticised by others in the field for releasing the video, amid claims it was a "false testimony".

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However, Mr Mantle says further inquiries have vindicated the release and suggested Mr Forgus was telling the truth.

Roswell has been at the heart of the UFO scene since July 1947 when the military sensationally announced in a press release it had found the remains of a crashed flying saucer in the desert nearby.

But the following day it retracted the statement, saying it was in fact a damaged US Air Force air balloon.

Witnesses later came forward to say there had been alien bodies within the "crashed craft", which along with the wreckage were then taken to a mysterious top-secret military base.

There have been claims and counter claims, including that the bodies were crash test dummies and it had been a top-secret balloon spying on the Russians.

All the confusion means it is one of the world's biggest conspiracy theories to this day.

Mr Forgus described hearing about the crash site on police radio while he and Sheriff Jess Slaughter were enroute near Roswell to pick up a prisoner.

He said the pair took a detour to view it and saw a flying saucer on the ground and mysterious bodies being removed.

Yet, another investigation by the US-based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) concluded he may have witnessed a crash six years later involving a US Air Force training flight and nothing to do with aliens.

Flying Disk Press

DEAD ALIENS? A CGI impression of the UFO crash site.

After the book was released MUFON, the world's largest UFO research group, also investigated the testimony.

Due to timescale discrepancies, it was deduced he may have seen a different crash.

It was found that Mr Slaughter, the sheriff named by Mr Forgus, was not the sheriff in 1947. He took on the role in the 1950s.

And Mr Forgus did not become deputy until 1953, records show.

Articles in the Big Springs Weekly Herald were found that had been published about Sheriff Slaughter and Deputy Forgus in 1953.

MUFON investigator Robert Spearing was not convinced Mr Forgus saw the Roswell UFO crash, but may have been at the site of a US Air Force crash in 1953.

Roswell UFO incident in pictures

Roswell's 1947 alien

IG

Major Jesse Marcel from the Roswell Army Air Field with debris found 75 miles north west of Roswell, NM, in June 1947. The debris has been identified as that of a radar target. The Air Force released a report on 24 June debunking reports of a UFO crash

AFP/Getty Images

Roswell's 1947 alien

IG

A group of protestors march in front of the General Accounting Office (GAO) 29 March to raise awarness about an examination being conducted by the GAO for documents about a weather balloon crash at Roswell, N.M. in 1947

AFP/Getty Images

Newspaper clipping showing a report on the Roswell UFO incident

Roswell Daily Record

David Corn and his cousin Bill Marley point towards the direction from where the alleged UFO came, before crashing at his ranch 50 years ago in Roswell, New Mexico. David's father Miller 'Hub' Corn, was the first witness of the event

AFP/Getty Images

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He noted that the private investigator in 1999 never even asked Mr Forgus for a date or even year of the incident, or even the precise location, despite saying in her introduction it was the July 1947 Roswell crash.

Mr Spearing found an article in the Reno Evening Gazette dated August 28, 1953, which said 11 airmen had survived a crash in a B-50 bomber which landed wheels up on gently rolling plains 35 miles southwest of Tatum, New Mexico.

Mr Spearing said in a MUFON investigation report: "This would coincide with their westward trip shortly before they turned north to Roswell."

However, he said this crash conflicted with the account of Mr Forgus as it was not disc shaped and there were no dead bodies.

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UFO CRASH? A possible crash site near Roswell as described by Charles Forgus.

Mr Spearing speculated that the crash as reported could have been a cover story for an experimental craft crash in which people died, and that was what Mr Forgus actually saw.

He concluded: "It seems highly unlikely that Mr Forgus was forging a story from untruths.

"His time frame is off but it seems likely that he came across something unusual in the desert along with Mr Slaughter.

"It also seems more likely that the event occurred in 1953 when the US military was experimenting with Vertical Take Off Landing (VTOL) disc shaped craft some of which were 100 feet in diameter and probably piloted by one or two airmen.

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"He could not recall the name of the person that Charles had travelled with or who was sheriff at that time.

"Thus, the crash might have happened in 1947, which was the time that Deputy Forgus recalled that it was.

"Glen said that Charles was a very straight arrow and not impressed by false knowledge. He was a no-nonsense type of person, having been in law enforcement. He had been a police officer and in the military.

"Thus the possibility exists that deputy Charles Forgus did see the crash in the time frame that he reported."

Flying Disk Press

Philip Mantle

In July a nephew of Mr Forgus had also come forward.

He said his uncle never mentioned the crash, but added: "I can tell you, he is not a person who would have fabricated this story."

Mr Mantle said: "He was very straight laced and no nonsense type of person... that's why he was in law enforcement.

"One well-known Roswell researcher simply labelled the testimony from Deputy Forgus as a lie. Now, we have information from a nephew and the son of this witness the latter of whom supports his late father’s story."

UFOs TODAY – 70 Years of Lies, Misinformation and Government Cover-Up is available from Flying Disk Press and Amazon.